In his memoirs, British cinematographer Christopher Challis called production of Albert Lewin's Saadia (1953) "seven months of a kind of hilarious hell." The passionate but improvident Lewin (whose promotion at MGM from screenwriter to director had less to do with experience than with status) had prepared for this lush Technicolor adaptation of the Francis D'Autheville source novel by traveling with the author to the book's Morocco locations; unfortunately, by the time Lewin returned to Africa with an international film crew, he had forgotten the whereabouts of those locations, requiring additional scouting to be done during principal photography. The near-deaf Lewin had tremendous difficulty communicating with his hard of hearing production designer John Hawkesworth while jets from a nearby airport ruined take after take. Lewin also underestimated the lighting requirements for Technicolor, resulting in the last minute acquisition of external light sources and the crew to run them - with the sheer volume of technical staff threatening to squeeze Lewin's actors out of the shot. While stars Cornel Wilde and Mel Ferrer fell out with one another during shooting, leading lady Rita Gam was saddled with a stallion that grew visibly aroused by her presence. That Saadia was completed, let alone praised by Bosley Crowther in The New York Times as "stunning" is a testament to Lewin's artistic vision and the esprit de corps of his technical crew.

By Richard Harland Smith